No!!!!! They will not set fruit even if they were to grow for a while.

Try Cherry of the Rio Grande. The cherries you mentioned need a significant freeze time in order to fruit.

Barbados cherries are pretty good too. They do well in south florida. Seems they were unaffected by the cold spell.

They're touting that 'Stella' has set cherries as far South as Tampa. No personal knowledge of it, but I grew Stella in zone 5. She is self fertile - you could try just one!
She set a few cherries the year after I planted her.
I've been thinking of trying her here myself.

Do I need only one Stella cherry plant for cherries or two? Are the cherries any good?

What if I grow a cherry tree in a place that gets much shade during the day? Will it grow there? I live in zone 9-10.

I highly doubt it, but go ahead and try if you have your heart set on it. Just don't spend too much on the tree. Rainer cherries are supposed to be limited to zone 8. If you have any hope of getting it to live make sure to plant it in the shade and water regularly. Some trees need a certain amount of cold to trigger the dormancy they need to be healthy.

I do sometimes try things limited to zone 9a here in 9b, with mixed success. The very worst thing that will happen is that it will not work and you will know for sure.

Remember, it's not the amount of shade for trees that need a freeze, it's the number of days or hours of freeze time. Shade won't help a tree that needs a freeze.

Talk to a local grower about their trees...

Kate

I moved to Puyallup WA and bought this house with what I believe to be a Rainier Cherry Treet. All trees were well overgrown when we moved in so we trimmed them. This year I have a lot of cherries, and they are all getting blushed nicely. However, upon picking one that I felt was ripe, they are very sour. Now I'm not sure if I have Rainiers, or some other tart variety. Is there something I need to do to make the fruit sweeter?

Regardless what happens, do not expect longevity out of any cherry-anywhere. Essentially, short-lived plants, even under perfect conditions-which FL definitely ain't.

+oM

I live in zone 10 and have some experience with cherry trees. Almost no one grows cherries around here, and there is a reason for that.

It would be possible for a cherry tree like Ranier to survive in zones 9 or 10, but it will definitely not thrive. The tree is likely to lack vigor, and there is a fair probability it will not survive for more than 5 or 6 years. Even if the tree does grow well, it is unlikely to produce much fruit, if any. I am talking about maybe only a dozen cherries on a 9 year old tree, 3 or 4 cherries on a 3 year old tree.

If you want the best chances of success, plant the tree somewhere where it will not get full sun, preferably somewhere it will get morning sun. It is said that cherry trees like full sun, but I have found in my experience this is not really so true in climate zone 10. Make sure the tree is consistently watered in the summer. I have heard one person recommend leaving a block of ice at the base of the tree in the winter to help counteract the lack of chill, I have no idea if this works. Other people have said that putting their potted tree in the shade during the winter helped it go into dormancy which helped it grow better when spring came. Another way to help a tree go into dormancy is to remove all the leaves and severely limit watering.

To help the tree come out of dormancy, put it somewhere sunny. Repeatedly applying a 100-150ppm solution of gibberellic acid to the leaf buds every 2-3 days can also help. There is also a rest-breaking chemical called Thidiazuron (TDZ), which has been used by cherry growers in South Africa. From what I have read, TDZ is most effective when applied BEFORE the plant experiences chill, and reduces the necessary subsequent chill requirement.

In my experience, stone fruit trees will still enter into dormancy even if there is no chill, but the timing will be very delayed, late into December or January, and the tree does not seem to go as deep into dormancy. It is even possible for part of the tree to be going into dormancy while another part is beginning to come out of it, if part of the tree gets much more sun than another part. If the tree does not go fully into dormancy, it will later have trouble coming out of it. The tree has a natural cycle, and if anything interferes with that cycle the tree will lack vigor and not seem to grow very well.

You asked about cherry trees like Napoleon and Rainier. There are some other varieties that are a little better suited to warmer climates. The newest ones everyone is talking about is Royal Lee and Minnie Royal Lee. There is also the Brooks cherry, not really suited to warm climates, but better than some of the others. Then there are the other varieties of cherry that some people do not consider to be "real cherries", like Capulin, which is native to Mexico and Guatemala. The subject of cherry varieties that are suited to warmer climates is very complicated, and I cannot begin to discuss it in any depth here.